Activating life course policy: Social assistance and health insurance in Germany

This paper builds on results from the Special Collaborative Centre 186 'Status Passages and Risks in the Life Course' at the University of Bremen and deals with changes in the principles of regulation and intervention within two different institutions of the welfare state: Social Assistance and Health Insurance. The empirical findings are based on expert interviews conducted at two points in time in the 1990s. We find that the traditionally differing structural principles of both systems have been supplemented with new principles of regulation and strategies of intervention in the observation period. Examples are a loss in importance of passive monetary transfers and a new emphasis on personal aid as well as orientation on 'time and action'. Thus Social Assistance and Health Insurance obviously converge towards a new model of intervention which we can call 'activating life course policy'. -- In dem vorliegenden Papier, das im Kontext des Sonderforschungsbereichs 'Statuspassagen und Risikolagen im Lebensverlauf' entstanden ist, werden Veränderungen der Steuerungs- und Interventionsmuster in zwei Systemen der sozialen Sicherung untersucht, die sich entlang unterschiedlicher Strukturprinzipien entwickelt haben: Sozialhilfe und Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung. Die Ergebnisse beruhen insbesondere auf Interviews mit Experten aus der Sozial- und Gesundheitsverwaltung zu zwei verschiedenen Erhebungszeitpunkten in den 1990er Jahren. Im Untersuchungszeitraum läßt sich in beiden Systemen eine Abkehr von passiven, auf Geldleistungen ausgerichteten Interventionsstrategien und ein Bedeutungszuwachs von personenbezogenen Dienstleistungen und stärker handlungs- und verlaufsbezogenen Orientierungen zeigen. Diese Entwicklung kann als institutionelle Annäherung beider Systeme unter dem 'Dach' einer stärker aktivierenden Lebenslaufpolitik interpretiert werden.

Lifelong guidance policy and practice in the EU

A study on lifelong guidance (LLG) policy and practice in the EU focusing on trends, challenges and opportunities. Lifelong guidance aims to provide career development support for individuals of all ages, at all career stages. It includes careers information, advice, counselling, assessment of skills and mentoring

A new model to support the personalised management of a quality e-commerce service

The paper presents an aiding model to support the management of a high quality e-commerce service. The approach focuses on the service quality aspects related to customer relationship management (CRM). Knowing the individual characteristics of a customer, it is possible to supply a personalised and high quality service. A segmentation model, based on the "relationship evolution" between users and Web site, is developed. The method permits the provision of a specific service management for each user segment. Finally, some preliminary experimental results for a sport-clothing industry application are described

Social Effectiveness of Tertiary Education for Adults in Mid-life

No abstract available

Policies for capacity development

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Enhancing the Well-Being of America's Veterans and Their Families: A Call to Action for a National Veterans Policy

This meeting was convened by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Social Work Policy Institute (SWPI) in collaboration with supporting partner, the University of Southern California School of Social Work (USC) and its Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families. This symposium was convened on June 12-13, 2013 as a catalyst for improving both policies and practices, and to explore the feasibility of promoting a national veterans policy. The more than 50 participants represented national organizations, government agencies, community service providers, foundations and universities. The participants had expertise in health, behavioral health and human service delivery systems and a large number of the participants were veterans, family members of veterans, or both.The symposium participants' diverse perspectives and experiences in agencies, organizations and universities helped to stimulate thinking about the policies that support our nation's veterans, and to look at how we can leverage what we already have, identify what changes are needed, and suggest how we can best balance federal, state and community roles, responsibilities and resources to enhance the well-being of our nation's veterans and their families